Bats propel Cats into winner’s bracket

The Saddleback baseball team defeated San Joaquin Delta College, 10-9, on opening day of the 3C2A State Baseball Tournament at Mt. San Antonio College on Saturday night.  The Bobcats will play West Valley College on Sunday at 2:00 PM.

Saddleback and San Joaquin Delta traded haymakers for most of the night and found themselves in a tie game heading to the bottom of the ninth inning.  After all the big punches, it was a bloop single to right-center field that never traveled more than 130 feet that was the difference as Jacob Beauchaine's single scored Ben Castelli with the walk-off win.

Saddleback bolted out to a 6-0 lead after three innings and never trailed in the game, but the Delta bats combined with a handful of miscues in the field by the Bobcats made things a bit more interesting than Saddleback fans would have liked. 

Saddleback looked ready on offense from the outset as Castelli led off the game with a double and Makani Tanaka followed with a triple for the opening run of the game.  Tanaka would later come home to score on a sacrifice fly from J.C. Allen.

Saddleback scored four more times in the third inning for a 6-0 lead.  Allen singled home both Andrew Nykoluk and Castelli before Rodrigo Barajas hit a two-run bomb to right-center field.  Barajas would finish 2-for-4 with three RBI in the game.

Unfortunately, the lead wouldn't last as San Joaquin Delta came into the game as one of the hottest hitting teams in the state and the Mustangs made the Bobcats pay for some costly errors in the field.  Saddleback committed five errors in the game, leading to six unearned runs for Mustangs.  Eventually the two teams would be square at 9-9 heading to the bottom of the ninth inning. 

Saddleback took the lead in the bottom half of the fifth inning, flipping the tables by taking advantage of some wildness from the Delta pitching staff.  After a pair of walks, Barajas doubled to right-center field and the ball was bobbled by the outfielder on the warning track, allowing both Tanaka and Allen to score for a 9-7 lead.

Saddleback held the lead into to the top of the seventh inning when San Joaquin Delta scored twice to tie the game.  The Mustangs had two singles to start the inning, but scored both runs when the Saddleback defense committed three errors in the inning.  Ryan Seymour pitched the Bobcats out of the jam when he got Joseph Barnhardt to fly out to right field with two runners on base.

Saddleback put Zachary Allegro on the mound in the eighth inning and he seemed to settle down the defense.  Allegro got himself out of a mini-jam in the eighth inning with a strikeout of cleanup hitter Grant MacArthur with two runners on base.  He then struck out Ellias Rubio in the same situation in the top half of the ninth inning, thus preserving the 9-9 tie.

Saddleback started the bottom of the ninth inning with the top of the lineup, and Castelli led off with a single up the middle to put the potential winning run on base.  Tanaka then laid down a sacrifice bunt as Castelli moved over to second base.  He would then advance to third on a wild pitch, thus forcing the Mustangs to intentionally walk Allen to set up a potential double-play.  It didn't work as Beauchaine hit a bloop to right-center field that managed to avoid both the right fielder and second baseman while Castelli crossed home plate with the winning run.

Castelli was a constant thorn in the side of Delta, finishing 4-for-5 with three runs scored.  Matthew Deutsch also had a solid game at the plate, finishing 3-for-4 with a run scored.  In total, the Saddleback bats touched up a Delta pitching staff that came into the game with the No. 7 team ERA in the state for 13 hits, with nine of the runs being earned. 

Saddleback is now 32-17 overall following the win.  The Bobcats will play West Valley College tomorrow in the winner's bracket after the Vikings defeated Santa Ana College, 8-6, earlier in the day.  The first pitch is scheduled for 2:00 PM at Mt. San Antonio College.  San Joaquin Delta and Santa Ana will meet in an elimination game at 10:00 AM.